Honours in Classics and Ancient History

Dr Alastair Blanshard

J605, Main Quadrangle
Telephone: +61 2 9351 6018
Fax: +61 2 9351 3918

School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry

Room H3.04, Level 3, Main Quadrangle
Telephone: +612 9351 2862
Fax: +612 9351 3918

Find your supervisor on this staff list.

In 2009 the University of Sydney will be offering 50 Honours Scholarships, each worth $6000.

These scholarships will be awarded in degrees that require an extra year of study and all local students are eligible, including those students who completed their undergraduate degree at a university other than Sydney.

Further information about these scholarship will be available on the Scholarships website from late August. The closing date for applications is Friday December 19.

An extra year in classical studies allows students to specialise in a particular field and to write a major piece of research. The Department of Classics and Ancient History offers multiple paths to an honours degree:

• ANHS4011 Ancient History Honours
  (and ANHS4012, ANHS4013, ANHS4014)
• GRKA4011 Greek Honours
  (and GRKA4012, GRKA4013, GRKA4014)
• LATN4011 Latin Honours
  (and LATNS4012, LATN4013, LATN4014)
• CLSS4011 Classics Honours (Latin and Greek).
  (and CLSS4012, CLSS4013, CLSS4014)

The Honours year can be the culmination of your study in classical studies or (with appropriate advising from the Honours co-ordinator) a pathway to further research in our postgraduate program. In either case it develops worthwhile transferable skills in analysis and critical argumentation.

Qualifications for Honours vary from path to path. If you are considering an Honours year, it is best to seek early advice on all the pathways open to you and the skills you will need to do your best.

Ancient History
Our formal prerequisites are a credit or better average in 48 credit points of senior Ancient History including:
ANHS2612 Historiography Ancient and Modern (or equivalent)
and either
ANHS3610 Research Issues in Greek Studies or
ANHS3611 Research Issues in Roman Studies.

Latin
Our formal prerequisites are a credit or better average in 42 senior credit points of Latin including two of:
LATN3603,
LATN3604,
LATN3605,
LATN3606
plus 6 additional senior credit points of Greek, Latin, or Ancient History.

Ancient Greek
Our formal prerequisites are a credit or better average in 42 senior credit points of Greek including two of:
GRKA3603,
GRKA3604,
GRKA3605,
GRKA3606
plus 6 additional senior credit points of Greek, Latin, or Ancient History.

Classics
Our formal prerequisites are EITHER credit average in 36 senior credit points of Latin including two of:
LATN3603,
LATN3604,
LATN3605,
LATN3606
plus 18 additional senior credit points of Greek OR credit average in 36 senior credit points of Greek including two of:
GRKA3603
GRKA3604
GRKA3605
GRKA3606
plus 18 additional senior credit points of Latin.

Once accepted, students in the honours program will participate in research seminars and will complete a thesis. Language students will also sit an unseen examination.

Students who successfully complete the program are awarded an Honours degree at one of several levels (e.g. First Class; Second Class, Division One and so forth).

In all cases, the Honours co-ordinator can advise you on acceptable equivalents to our standard requirements for qualification. Students wishing to take Honours should consult members of the Department's staff about the prerequisites and corequisites for honours and what is involved in an Honours course.

Semester 1
Res Publica: Theory and Practice
Assoc. Prof. Jeff Tatum
In this seminar we shall examine the republican constitution in its normative form (as represented in history, philosophical essay and oratorical insistence) and its practical forms as they emerge in our accounts of various historical moments. Elements of the constitution – from the organisation of the military to civic religion to the realities of elections and assemblies – will be examined with care alongside the constitution's inherent contradictions and difficulties (which tend to become visible in political contests and social perturbations).

Semester 2
The Peloponnesian War And Culture
Dr. Alastair J.L. Blanshard
The Peloponnesian War dominates the Greek world in the second half of the fifth century BC. At the same time, throughout this period, we see art and culture flourish as never before. This seminar aims to trace these two features and examine the relationship between them. It looks at the stimulus war provides to culture, and the way culture responds to war's anxieties. It also examines the position that the Peloponnesian War has occupied in western European thought.